


If John Had Died Instead Of Mary

by FallenAngelAndPie



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Supernatural Hunters, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-01
Updated: 2014-02-01
Packaged: 2018-01-10 18:32:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,713
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1163088
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FallenAngelAndPie/pseuds/FallenAngelAndPie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What if John had perished in Sam's nursery instead of Mary?  How would Sam and Dean be if they were raised by their mom?</p>
            </blockquote>





	If John Had Died Instead Of Mary

John Winchester had died in a house fire on November 2, 1983.  Mary has never told her sons the details surrounding her husband’s death, but did everything she could to make sure that they grew up safe and as well-adjusted as two fatherless boys could.

The oldest boy, Dean, had a few memories of his father, but as he was only four when John died, they were a bit hazy.  He does remember his father not being around often, and how he had to comfort his mother.  There were the odd games of catch in the yard, but that was pretty much the extent of his memories.

Sam had only been 6 months old at the time, so John was more or less just a sperm donor to him.

At first, Dean wouldn’t speak.  Not a word.  Fearing for her son, Mary found an affordable therapist and had Dean visit him every Saturday for three months.  By the time the sessions were finished, young Dean was pretty much the same smiling, happy-go-lucky little boy he had been before the fire.

Mary had moved them into a two bedroom apartment on the other side of town.  It was only supposed to be temporary, until she was able to find a better paying job and they could move into a nicer home.  But, life is funny that way.  That small apartment became their home.  Sam and Dean shared a bedroom, complete with a tape line down the centre, and Mary marked their growth on the kitchen wall.  This apartment saw Mary go from working seven days a week at the diner, to working five days a week managing that same diner.  It saw Dean get his first job, at fifteen, as a dishwasher in that diner, and it saw Sam become editor of his high school’s paper in grade eleven.  The family of three laughed here, they cried here, they hugged here.  But most of all, they were happy here.

 

When Dean was seven, two days after Mary had taken the boys to see a community production of “the Nutcracker”, he announced that it was his dream to become a male ballerina.  He twirled and leapt all over the apartment, and may have knocked over a lamp or two in the process.  Mainly in an attempt to save the other lamps and vases, Mary signed her eldest son up for a ballet class at the rec centre.  Every Saturday for the next five years, Dean Winchester sported a leotard and entered the majorly female comprised dance class.  In his last year, he even got to be in a production of “The Nutcracker”.  He was one of the rats and he loved the rush that performing gave him!  He only left dance because the rec centre offered acting classes as well, and he was very intrigued by the idea of performing with words instead of just dance and movement.

Sam was more studious.  He learned to read at the age of four and almost always had his nose in a book.  He wasn’t as outgoing as his older brother, and, being small, was often bullied at school.  Dean was always there to look after little Sammy, though.  The older Winchester got into quite a few fights protecting his brother.

 

One day, after a practically bad fight, as sixteen year old Dean was nursing a black eye and reading a car magazine, Mary entered his room.  Sam was over a friend’s house for a sleepover, and Mary figured that now would be a good time to have a very important talk with her oldest son.

“Dean, do you remember the night your father died?” Mary gingerly sat on the foot of Dean’s bed, resting her right hand on her son’s ankle.

“Not much.  You grabbed Sam and I and ran out of the house.  It was engulfed in flames.  There was no way dad could have made it out alive,” Dean put down his magazine.

“Yes, that’s what I thought you’d remember,” Mary looked down at her lap. “That’s what I want you to remember, but I need to tell you something.  I need to tell you why your father died.”

“Mom,” Dean sat up, moving closer to his mother. “Mom, you’re scaring me.”

“No, no you need to know.  Your father went into to Sam’s room that night because he heard a noise.  I was on my way, but he got there first,” a tear started to roll down Mary’s perfect cheek. “As soon as he entered, a figure turned around.  Your father screamed and I ran into the room to see him on the ceiling, blood staining his shirt.  The figure was gone.  Fire erupted around John.  I panicked and I grabbed Sam.  When I turned around I saw that you were right behind me, so I scooped you up and ran.  As fast as I could.  Outside.”

“You saved us, I knew that,” Dean put his arm around his mother’s shoulders. “You’re the bravest mother I know.”

“I’m not done, Dean,” Mary continued. “Your father wasn’t supposed to die that night.  I made a deal to save John’s life.  Ten years before the fire, I made a deal.  A deal with a demon.”

“A what?” Dean was puzzled. “A demon?  Mom, there’s no such thing –“

“There is, Dean,” Mary interrupted. “I grew up hunting them, and other things you and Sam think are fictional.  I swore I would never raise my children in that kind of life, and I’ve tried my hardest to shield you and Sam from it.  But you need to understand that what happened the night your father died will affect Sam’s future.  I don’t know how and I don’t know when, but that figure did something to Sam.  He was standing by Sam’s crib.  He wanted something from Sam or did something.”

“Mom, I think you’ve been working too hard,” Dean sat back, trying to take in everything his mother was telling him.

“Dean, you have to promise me that you will always protect your brother.  That you will always be there when he needs you.  Lead your own life, do your own thing, but always be there for your brother.”

“Of course.  He’s a brat, but he’s my brother.  Of course I will always be there.”

“Thank you, Dean.  Now, this goes against every single one of my wishes, but I need to give you something,” Mary stood up. “I’ll be right back.”

Mary left they boys’ room and returned with a leather bound book.

“This was my father’s,” she said as she sat back down on Dean’s bed and handed the book over to her son. “It was the journal he kept of his hunts. I want you to read it so you will have a little bit of an idea of the life I grew up in.  The life I have fought so hard to keep from you boys.  The life I do not want you to have.  The life I can no longer keep secret from you.”

Dean took the book from his mom and flipped it open to a random page, starring at the handwritten words of his deceased grandfather, “Werewolves are real?  Mom, are you sure your dad wasn’t just nuts?”

“If I hadn’t killed a werewolf myself, I might think that, yes,” Mary sighed.

Dean closed the book, “I’ll read this.  I want to know about my family history.  It will be interesting.”

The teenager smiled at his mother.

“Thanks, Dean,” Mary cupped her son’s face in her right hand. “But you can’t tell Sammy about any of this.  I’ll tell him myself in a few years.”

Dean promised to not utter a word and the matter was never spoken of again.  He read his grandfather’s journal and started taking an interest in the fact that there were real vampires, werewolves, demons and other monsters out in the world.  He started to do his own research on these creatures and developed a fascination with hunters, all though he didn’t know any.  He didn’t tell his mom, but he kind of wanted to be a hunter when he grew up.

Mary did tell Sam when he turned sixteen, had him read her father’s journal. She left out the part about the demon doing something to him, though.  She didn’t want to frighten her youngest child.

Unlike Dean, Sam took no interest in the hunting world.  He read the journal and he believed every single world, but he had other things he wanted to do with his life.  Like working hard in school so he could get accepted into a good university and become a lawyer.

 

Dean went to a three year theatre school and apprenticed at an auto shop in his spare time.

He met a boy, his first day of classes, that made him feel things that only girls had made him feel.  He didn’t think much of it, though, and never acted on those feelings, besides the one drunken kiss they shared at college party.  He didn’t even bother to tell his mom about these feelings.  He didn’t think they really meant anything.  Just typical college experimentation.

 

Sam met a girl shortly after he started at Stanford.  Jess was a beauty and he was immediately smitten. He was sure that she was the one.

Until one night that he stumbled home after a late night of drinking with Dean at the campus pub.  He walked into his apartment, no sign of Jess, and flopped down on their bed…only to see the love of his life pinned to the ceiling, engulfed in flames.

Terrified, Sam ran out of his apartment and phoned his brother.  Dean was still at the bar and ran over as quickly as he could.  Sam cried in his big brother’s arms.

Sam slept on Dean’s couch that night, and the two boys left for home in the morning.

Dean knew that something was happening.  He knew that it was more than just a coincidence that their dad and Sam’s girlfriend had died in the exact same manner.  He needed their mom to tell him everything she knew about demons, about this demon.  His baby brother was hurting right now, and he had to fix this.  Anyway he can.

**Author's Note:**

> And the rest of the story continues as usual.  
> Sam gets sent to that ghost town by Azazel.  
> Sam dies.  
> Dean finds a crossroad demon and makes a deal.  
> He gets a year because his mom was supposed to die in the fire instead of his dad.  
> Dean goes to Hell.  
> Dean is saved by Cas.  
> Apocalypse is averted.   
> Dean and Cas fall in love.


End file.
